Mitt Romney's steady 22-percent share in the Des Moines Register's polling looks like a sign of strength — or at least, viability — in Iowa, but the paper also flags some troublesome indicators:

Evangelical voters stalled [Romney's] campaign here four years ago, and this survey shows they believe his social conservative bona fides are suspect. He’s at the bottom of their list, save for Jon Huntsman, who gets not a single vote.

Another big warning flag for Romney: Those who definitely intend to caucus don’t like him much. This group is 38 percent of those polled, but Romney is the first choice of just 10 percent of them. Cain is the strongest among definite attenders with 27 percent.

And likely caucusgoers don’t see him as their backup: 11 percent designated him their second choice, behind Cain and Gingrich.

Part of the reason why Romney's position in the Register poll looks strong is that evangelical voters are scattering across the other 2012 candidates. Twenty-six percent are backing Herman Cain, 11 percent are with Michele Bachmann, 9 percent are with Rick Santorum and only 7 percent are with Rick Perry.

The poll shows, though, that adding first and second-choice preferences together yields a race with Cain at 42 percent and Romney at 33 percent. That 33 percent figure is not overwhelming, but it's just a point short of the 34 percent Mike Huckabee drew in the caucuses last time around. So if Cain were to falter - which is still the overwhelming bet in political circles - and keep the right divided, Romney does seem to have a path toward getting enough votes to secure victory.